About the Journal

About JAMS:

The Journal of Anime and Manga Studies (JAMS) is an open-access journal dedicated to providing an ethical, peer-reviewed space for academics, students, and independent researchers examining the field of anime, manga, cosplay, and fandom studies to share their research with others. JAMS is peer reviewed by scholars with experience in these areas. The goal of JAMS is to explore anime as an art form and bring visibility to the deeper meanings, understandings, and/or cultural significance of anime, manga, cosplay, and their fandoms.

The use of “anime” as a descriptor in all principles includes manga, cosplay, and its fandoms.

Aims and Scope:

Who is the audience for the journal?

The Journal of Anime and Manga Studies (JAMS) is dedicated to the scholarly analysis of anime, manga, cosplay, and the fandom surrounding these areas for those interested in anime and its culture. As an open access journal, JAMS aims to reach an audience of scholars both inside and outside the academe, encouraging public engagement through the digital humanities.

The Journal of Anime and Manga Studies is an interdiscinplinary publication that accepts articles from a variety of disciplines. JAMS is interested in scholarly analysis of anime through any number of theoretical lenses, but also interested qualitative and quantitative research surrounding anime. Scholarly book reviews of texts concerning anime, manga, cosplay, and the fandom culture surrounding these areas will also be considered.

Example: The Journal of Anime and Manga Studies does not accept work examining the BBC television series “Sherlock”. It would, however, accept work examining the “Sherlock” manga, an anime adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s book series.

Please note, JAMS does not accept reviews of anime or manga.

Example: The Journal of Anime and Manga Studies will not accept a paper that discusses episode three of Gakuen Babysitters, detailing why it is the best episode of the series.

The Journal of Anime and Manga Studies will not accept a paper that discusses why Gakuen Babysitters is a good series, and why readers should watch it.

The Journal of Anime and Manga Studies will accept work on how, in Gakuen Babysitters, Ryūichi’s grief over the loss of his parents is reflected, and how it relates to larger themes of familial obligation in the series.

Articles can include images and graphics, including photographs, film and television stills, and manga. Citation necessities, copyright guidelines, and licensing terms are listed in the Copyright and Licensing section.

Submission Guidelines

How will the journal accept submissions?

Only completed work should be submitted.

The maximum length of any contribution should be 7,500 words, inclusive of notes and bibliography.

Feedback will not be provided on work in progress.

Abstracts and five keywords must be included in the same file as the article.

Abstracts must not be more than 250 words.

Descriptions of the material analyzed must be included in the abstract.

Submissions must be double-spaced

Page numbers must be placed in the upper-right corner, paragraphs must be indented, and all illustrations and tables must be labeled and captioned accurately.

Times New Roman, 12 point font, left-justified text, and bold-faced headings must be used.

Follow APA citation styles.

If selected for publication or further review, authors will be contacted by JAMS.

By submitting any material to the Journal of Anime and Manga Studies, you agree your work is original, unless otherwise specifically acknowledged. If you are working with a fellow student or professor on your submission, it is imperative you speak with them prior to submitting work to this journal. You must clear any conflict of interest prior to submission since some graduate students/professors may intend to submit that same research for publication.

If the Editor returns a work that requires revisions, the author(s) is(are) responsible for making the necessary changes and resubmitting the manuscript to the Journal of Anime and Manga Studies.

Authors may contact JAMS if they wish to have a different Creative Commons License applied to their work before publication.

Does the journal include special or thematic issues?

The Journal of Anime and Manga Studies includes special and thematic issues. These are announced with special “Calls for Submission” detailing themes. If you have an idea for a special or thematic issue, please contact the journal.

Who is able to submit to the journal? Is the journal open for submissions from undergraduate students?

The Journal of Anime and Manga Studies accepts work from graduate students, librarians, and faculty, along with work from both undergraduate students and independent scholars.

Do students need permission from an advisor/instructor to submit? Does the journal require a letter of support from an advising faculty member?

Undergraduate students interested in submitting to the Journal of Anime and Manga Studies need to submit letters of support from advising faculty members.

Does the submitted work need to be original research?

The Journal of Anime and Manga Studies only publishes original research.

JAMS defines original research as work unique to the field, presenting new ideas and analysis of anime, manga, cosplay, and the fandoms surrounding it, and has not previously been published in a book or academic journal.

Can the submitted manuscript be published or undergoing review in another journal?

Submitted articles cannot have been previously published, nor be forthcoming in a journal or book (print or electronic). In addition, by submitting material to the Journal of Anime and Manga Studies, the author is stipulating that the material is not currently under review at another journal (electronic or print) and that he or she will not submit the material to another journal (electronic or print) until the completion of the editorial decision process at the Journal of Anime and Manga Studies has been completed.

The Journal of Anime and Manga Studies will also publish materials that have been written for undergraduate research and not previously published, or materials archived in university repositories.

Does JAMS require the primary author to revise their work based on review comments?

The Journal of Anime and Manga Studies requires primary authors to be willing to work with the journal in revising a submission if it is selected or considered for publication.

Are authors allowed to submit to the journal multiple times?

Authors are allowed to submit to the journal multiple times, but generally only one work per author will be reviewed and/or published in each issue.

How often will the journal be published? Are there deadlines for publication or does the journal accept submissions on a rolling basis?

The Journal of Anime and Manga Studies publishes as two annual issues. The first issue is published in spring, the second is published in fall. Submissions are accepted on a rolling basis, but submitters should be aware of the time reviewing articles takes and plan their submission time accordingly if they hope their paper to be reviewed for a Spring or Fall publication.

JAMS publishes between six and twelve articles per issue. If a high volume of relevant material is submitted, JAMS considers the possibility of a thematic issue, or a summer issue.

Fees

Does JAMS charge article fees?

JAMS does not charge author processing charges or submission fees at this time.

The goal of JAMS is to be a completely open access, sustained by those with a passion for the content JAMS is dedicating to promoting and sharing.

Authors may contact JAMS if they wish to have a different Creative Commons License applied to their work before publication.

Double-Blind Review Status:

The Committee on Publication Ethics/Directory of Open Access Journals/Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association/World Association of Medical Editors define Peer Review as “obtaining advice on individual manuscripts from reviewers expert in the field who are not part of the journal’s editorial staff” (COPE/DOAJ/ OASPA/WAME, 3, 2018).

JAMS agrees with this definition, and follows a double-blind peer review system. All identification, to the extent it can be removed, is removed from submitted works before being forwarded to peer reviewers.

Example A: A scholar submits a YouTube video-essay and/or piece of music they created themselves as a portion of their work for potential publication to the journal. JAMS cannot scrub their information from these sites, and the user is unable to send the raw files directly as comments on these public works are considered to be part of the project, along with the fact that the user can be identified by their voice. JAMS would not consider the peer reviewer seeing the submitters profile information or hearing their voice to be an ethical violation of its Peer Review Statement, as the journal, the submitter, and the reviewer have all worked to maximum extent to remove the submitters identifying data that they can.

Example B: A scholar includes in their work a portion discussing their university’s anime club. JAMS, as a journal whose focus includes scholarly discussions of anime fandom, would not scrub the name of the university from the paper as it is important in identifying the social/cultural importance of anime to that community. JAMS would not consider the peer reviewer seeing the submitter’s university name to be an ethical violation of its Peer Review Statement in this case, as the citation of that specific university is important to the arguments of the piece.

Reviewers read, comment on, and recommend submitted works for publication, revision, or rejection based on their relevance to JAMS’ focus, the strength of their arguments, and the uniqueness of their research.

Author’s found to be submitting/have submitted maliciously plagiarized work will have that work removed if it was published, have any of their other published work on JAMS taken down, and be blacklisted from submitting to JAMS in the future.

COPE guidelines state that it is the duty of editors to pursue misconduct even if the article in question is not published.

Does JAMS require evidence of IRB approval for work with human subjects?

In the event an author is attempting to publish work involving human subjects that would forfeit/invade their privacy, the author would be required to submit an approved IRB letter from their institution with their submission.

Regardless of affiliation, any research involving human beings requires a methodology and explanation ensuring the research was conducted in an ethical manner, including how consent was informed and the publicness of the venue in which the research was conducted.

Example A: A submitter writes about their university’s anime club. They, in writing their paper, cite interviews with specifically named members. This would require the submission of an approved IRB letter, as the club is not public and the members’ names are revealed.

Example B: A submitter writes about the performances of several cosplayers at a local anime convention and how they contribute to convention-experience. They only refer to the performers by their character name. Because the submitter is commenting on a public performance, they would not be required to submit IRB approval.

The Journal of Anime and Manga Studies (JAMS) is an open-access journal dedicated to providing an ethical, peer-reviewed space for academics, students, and independent researchers examining the field of anime, manga, cosplay, and fandom studies to share their research with others. JAMS is peer reviewed by scholars with experience in these areas. The goal of JAMS is to explore anime as an art form and bring visibility to the deeper meanings, understandings, and/or cultural significance of anime, manga, cosplay, and their fandoms.